Oh, no - it wasn't a vital organ, was it??
No, but thanks for asking. Last night, we met Joan's sister Beth and her husband Rob in Mesa for an interesting dining experience. They are from Silver City, New Mexico, but they do come this way from time to time. We saw them just a couple weeks ago. Rob got hearing aids, and his audiologist is in Phoenix.
Beth picked Organ Stop as a meet-up place. I was not familiar with it, but Steph and Dan have been there, and they said it was a lot of fun. It is a pizza place, but the big draw is a giant Wurlitzer Theatre Pipe Organ that rises up out of the floor. Organ pipes all around - 23 ranks of pipes. The organ is powered by three Spencer turbine blowers (with a fourth as a standby), spinning at 1800 RPM with a combined 60HP, moving 10,000 cubic feet of air. The Wurlitzer has more than 6,000 pipes. The largest pipes are 32 feet long and could fit four people inside. Yeah, it's big...
The organ and organist rise up out of the floor. The organist plays all types of music, not just what you'd expect from this amazing and interesting giant instrument.
But, what about the pizza? Crispy crust - just the way Joan likes it. We got a table on the upper level so we could get an overall view.
The restaurant opens at 4:00, the music starts at 4:30. I'm glad we were there when the place opened... not to get a table, there were plenty available; but so we had a chance to visit for that first half hour before the music fired up. The volume fills the room; with those giant pipes, it sometimes rattles your innards. But, the organist was very talented and it was a fun experience.
Beth and Rob...
Us...
And, the part Stephanie would have enjoyed the most: "dancing cats" marionettes...
After a couple hours (the organist took a break every 45 minutes or so), we took things outside so we could continue to visit.
By the time we left, the seating had increased to a good crowd. This giant organ, the music (they encourage requests), and the atmosphere are an attraction. This place has been in business since 1972. They moved to this location, a larger building (seats 700), in 1995 to accommodate the continuously expanding organ, which is now considered the largest Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ in the world.
Worth a visit? Absolutely. But, after a couple hours there, I was ready for some quiet time. ;-) And, another piece of pizza after we got home.
A short video...
1 comment:
It's a cool thing to do and we visited with Alice's parents years ago during one of our trips down from Alaska.
Many years ago in Michigan I had a girlfriend whose mother was very much into the Michigan Pipe Organ Association. We toured many organs around southern Michigan and took many backstage tours, seeing the mechanisms and talking with the organists. Fascinating stuff...
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